Thunder and Ice
by CyberHell
Summary: Chp 3 Up! So everyone believe that a lovely brunette could melt the Head Master's frozen heart, yet a cowboy said something different about that all. Shounenai ahead. IrvinexSquall. Will be M rated in later chapters XD
1. So, what did you just do?

It's been such a long time that I've got this idea for Irvine+Squall ficcu, and now I'm writing it all down XD! Yesh, it's a Irvine+Squall ficcu hearts This story contains a mild shounen-ai, so be prepare people. These lovely characters are not mine yet belongs to lovely Square Enix

And big thanks to my lovely Beta-reader Ka hearts And for all of you, enjoy the story fufufu

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**Thunder and Ice**

Today had been rather boring I must say… Watched the blue sky and the floating white clouds, listened to all the girls giggling over their conversations in the park. _Ahh… This is such heaven_, Balamb Garden sure looked different from the stiff-soldier-like Galbadia Garden.

"..m…. Ehem. May I have your attention please. Mister Kinneas come to the headmaster's office please… I repeat, ehem… Mister Irvine Kinneas come to the headmaster's office, thank you."

The announcer surely had a lot to learn. Clearing his throat while on the intercom was not exactly very professional. I chuckled over the silly thought, pushed myself up and started to dust off my long leather coat. I bid farewell to the ladies and walked coolly toward the lift, where it took me straight up to the headmaster's office.

There were things strewn everywhere and almost all the tables in the room was piled high with folders, files and stacks of paper, blank or filled with reports. _Phew… Thank goodness I'm just work as the delivery man,_ I thought to myself, as my heavy footfalls let my presence in the room become noticed.

"Yo, cowboy! It's about time you showed up!"

The un-Squall-like voice surprised me. "Zell? What is some kid like you doing in headmaster's office?"

"I'm no kid! My age is not that different than yours, so shut up!"

He waved his fist dangerously in the air, as if daring me to say another word. I shrugged slightly and surrendered to the hyper boy in front of me. "So… where's the headmaster?"

"Errr… Squall is out with Rinoa right now, so he won't be here for a while"

"Hmm… That's a surprise", I said while smirking at the shorter boy. "Here's another question then. Why am I here?"

The boy started to fidget slightly and bright blue eyes started to look away from mine. Ten minutes had passed and I still got no answer from Zell, only some random muttering and incoherent sentences.

"So… Squall is gone with that lovely princess. Who called me through that-"

"It was me…"

Somehow I had wondered why Squall had allowed someone so incompetant use the intercom so freely.

"Zell… if you're just making excuses for spending time alone with me, just say so… I won't refuse."

The blond boy's eyes grew wider and the blush on his cheeks suddenly became visible. "Like eww! Why the hell I want to spend time with you!? I just need your help, that's all! And _none_ of these will be the 'excuses' for wanting to spend time alone with you!!"

The responses from the blond boy never failed to amuse me. "So… what is it then? I'm all ears and eyes if you want me to be."

The boy hesitated at first but after a few minutes, he started to move from the spot he was standing at, to behind Squall's desk. A soft metal noise could be heard when Zell seemed to remove something from under it. Eyes growing wider, I choked on the air that tried to get into my lungs. Then not longer after that, I started to laugh a bit too loudly for the shorter boy's liking.

Trying to control the laughter, I coughed slightly and smirked at him with glee.

"Oh my, Zell… what am I gonna do with you…?"

I started to laugh again while the other boy stomped his feet on the ground at me. "It's not funny!" he yelled over and over while I tried to suppress my laughter.

"Hnn… Alright, so what's the story behind this incident?"

The boy was fuming red, maybe between anger and embarrassment. After a while, Zell started to explain everything, and I meant _everything_ that he did before he managed to re-form Squall's gunblade.

"Let me get this straight. You, out of curiosity, started to play with head master's weapon and without second thought you start to peel the gunblade off. And… you don't know how to put it back together?"

"Not 'peel it off', I was testing it out!"

"Ehem, alright 'testing it out'… and you did this?"

I held the blade (or the part where I suppose was the blade) up carefully and turning it around to check the _critical_ condition. The handle almost fell off, some of the screws were dangling (not necessarily in the right places), and the blade… it was hanging down approx. 56º from where the usual position was.

"And… you want me to tidy this gunblade up?"

"Yeah! Pleaseee Irvine! You're such a nice guy… oh! I will treat you some hot dogs later if you've finished putting it back together!"

I smirked at the hyper boy and chuckled, "No thanks, my dear friend. I need to keep my body in shape! What would the ladies think?"

He shrugged and mumbled something about having it my way or something. Turning the gunblade around some more, I started to pick out what was wrong with it. Getting out all the tools for cleaning my shot gun from my jacket, putting back the gunblade started to take me away from the surroundings. _All you need is concentration… The gunblade is not that different from any other gun._

"I guess you're lucky that the headmaster isn't here to see what happened to his poor gunblade."

A loud banging sound of the door filled the room almost immediately. Now, speak of the devil; the headmaster was at the door, glaring at us. I guess he hadn't noticed the condition of his weapon yet.

The small boy squeaked a little as he saw whose coming. "Oh, Squall… you're back early!"

"…"

I knew I wasn't surprised that Zell didn't get an answer. The brunette walked forward towards us and he scanned the room quietly (probably checking what we'd messed up or destroyed…).

"… told Rinoa that I should be heading back early. I needed to finish some paper work by… Tomorrow… morning…"

Squall's concentration seemed to have left him behind. His eyes were fixed upon me… oh wait, I meant fixed upon my hands, I meant the gunblade in my hands.

"Ermm… I've just remembered something urgent. Seeya guys later!"

Zell sprinted out the room rather quickly and disappeared from my sight in no time. _Damn, Zell… I'll get you later!_

The silence around us was quite awkward. Fidgeting slightly, I tried to think of a way to get out from this room unharmed. "Hey, sweetie Is this yours?" I smirked goofily at him, and held up the gunblade, only to have the blade fall off the handle. _Fuck…_

Squall glared dangerously at my actions and the condition of his loved weapon. "What… the hell are you doing in my room? And with my _Lionheart_?"

"You know, Squall… Hate to tell you this, but you just let the criminal go earlier."

A bit too slow for sprinting, Squall walked straight toward me and snatched the poor gunblade off my hands. Scowling slightly at the condition, he glared at me once again (probably for letting Zell have his way with the poor weapon or something).

"Hey, hey… like I said, it wasn't me who deformed your gunblade".

I chuckled slightly, hoping that the headmaster would spare my life for another year or so. But this was what you would get from the colder-than-the-ice-headmaster, Squall only glared at me. _I bet he's trying to drill a hole in my forehead with those eyes of his…_ Unconsciously, I lifted my hands up in the surrender style towards the brunette. His eyes were more dangerous than any guns that had been pointed at me.

"Umm… Squall?"

Squall sighed rather louder than necessary and it made me jump, but I guess he didn't realize it. "You may go now…" He turned himself around while saying that sentence.

"… Look, Squall. I was only trying to—"

While trying to convince him that I was innocent, I stepped closer to him and the aura around him somehow saying _'come near me, and I'll cut your head off'_. Wow, I never thought that the headmaster could actually could talk silently like this.

"What is it, Kinneas?"

"It's… nothing", I said in utter defeat. I didn't think that anyone could break his ice-cold profile. That girl from Timber, Rinoa was only able to melt the ice for a few months… After we defeated the sorceress, he went back to his usual quiet manner. I guess we really do need a miracle for Squall to actually become sociable person.

This time, it was my turn to sigh (not as loudly as Squall's though). "Alrighty then, I will leave you and your gunblade alone for some private time". Taking my cowboy heat off, I bowed slightly at him and walked out from the room and towards the lift. And as I thought, Squall did not bid me any farewell or anything.

_Well, that's Squall for you…_

Stepping into the lift, I pressed the button to B11 and waited for the lift to take me to the destination. Maybe playing cards with those Shumi people would help me think over whatever had just happened or at least I could avoid that image of the icy glare from Squall that seemed to have burned itself into my mind.

Now, thinking about it… Squall did not seem to be in the best mood and I wondered what happened earlier with him and that chick.

_To be continued…_

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Review please:D


	2. Impossible Request

**Disclamer:** All characters from Final Fantasy 8 aren't mine, they belongs to Square Soft/Enix and I borrowed them only for the purpose of entertainment XD!

**Warning:** A first note that I have to say before you read this chapter. My least favorite character in FF8 is Rinoa ::lol:: She's alright in the game, but somehow she failed to go into my fav-char list. So in this chapter, I might bash Rinoa a bit because well, this is how I see Rinoa act ::scratches head:: If you like Rinoa so much, then I suggest to skip this chapter.

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**Chapter 2 - Impossible Request**

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The cowboy sighed and tilted his hat down slightly to block the glaring light of the sun. It had been a few days since he was away from Balamb Garden while riding the train. After the previous incident with Squall's gunblade, somehow the Headmaster felt it was only natural to punish me along with Zell even though he knew I've got nothing to do with the deforming of his beloved weapon.

Irvine had no idea where the Headmaster had sent Zell for his punishment, but he could guess it was a dreadful place so that he won't dare to touch his Lionheart ever again. As for him, he was sent to Galbadia to babysit the young sorceress.

"_Next stop, Galbadia, Deling City station._" The cowboy sighed as the train came closer to his destination. He couldn't really complain about this job, at least it's easier than what his comrade, Zell had to endure. As the train halted, Irvine pushed himself up from the seat and stepped out from the train.

It had been a while since the last time the put his foot into Deling, not after the assassination plan he and the gang had tried on Sorceress Edea. He was sure, several people might still recognize him as one of the assassins that tried to kill their Sorceress and created chaos in the city. That wasn't really a happy memory, but Irvine had no other choice but to follow the order.

After a short trip toward a particular building, the cowboy stepped down from the truck and stared at the familiar location. "Here it is…" He whispered to himself and braced himself as he walked toward the door and pressed the bell.

Minutes passed as he pressed the bell to notified the household of his presence, Irvine heard the door from the other side clicked opened and the bright expression of the sorceress greeted him. "Squall! I've been waiting for you--" Yet that expression soon changed to an expression of confusion.

Irvine took off his cowboy hat off and bowed slightly at the young sorceress. "Good evening, my lovely young Sorceress Rinoa Heartality." He added with his charming smile and a wink.

Rinoa frowned at the gentleman act that the man showed her and peeked over his shoulders to check whether her lover was there or not. "Shut it, Irvine. Where's Squall? I thought he's the one that I asked to come?"

_Ouch_. He said to himself at the retort. Irvine plopped his cowboy hat back onto his head and scratched the back of his neck, unsure what to say. "Uh, well you know how busy the Headmaster is. Squall really looooved to come and see you, Rinoa. But well you know, duty calls and all."

The sorceress glared at him with a pained expression. "What? I'm his girlfriend and he didn't bother to take a day off just to come and see me to spend a day together?" She said while sniffled slightly, disbelieved that Squall sent the cowboy instead.

_Geez, how did he cope with all the drama?_ Irvine frowned at the sniffling girl. The cowboy did love woman and girl so much, but one thing that he couldn't cope with were the drama that they sometimes created. Either to gain his attention or just for the heck of it.

And Rinoa was one of the girl that he couldn't cope with. He still remembered how she scratched him and kicked him off the stairs when they're trapped in the D-District Prison. She was a beautiful and pretty girl, he admitted that. But she was just off his scale.

"You're the sorceress, Rinoa. Why don't you just zap your boyfriend here?" Irvine said without thinking which rewarded with a kick on his shin.

"Being the Sorceress doesn't work exactly like that, stupid." She said with a huff. "Thought it's a tempting thing to try…" Rinoa said as she watched the cowboy knelt while rubbing his shin.

"I _WAS_ joking, damn. If you did that to him, he'll starts a riot as soon as he realized you used your power to take him away from his responsibilities." Irvine remarked with a frown. "You know how workaholic Squall is."

She sighed and turned around to go back inside the building. "Well, come in then. People will starts staring if we kept talking outside." She added while she walked toward the living room.

"Sorry to intrude then." The cowboy said softly as he followed the Sorceress in and closed the door behind him. The place was still the same as before, nothing really changed but maybe there were more guards than before. Well, that's natural because they need to keep an eye on the Sorceress and all.

Rinoa plopped herself onto one of the couch in the living room and started glaring at the cowboy again. "Tell me again, what's exactly Squall doing right now?"

Irvine stood there across the room and scratched the back of his head. "Hmm, working with mountains of paperwork and load of field missions? Squall still need to fly around the world too you know, Princess. To help the other Gardens."

"But I'm _HIS_ girlfriend, ain't I as important as his work?" She said in defense.

The cowboy scoffed slightly and the sorceress glared dagger at his direction. _Good luck on trying to make Squall to neglect his works then_. The cowboy thought to himself.

"I guess Squall need to learn to be more of a gentleman and stopped making his lover waited all day for him." She said in a matter-of-factly with a sigh. "Irvine, I believe you're a good teacher in this field."

The cowboy raised his eyebrow at the request and chuckled. "What, you want Squall to learn how to be a man from me?" To do that, it was like moving a mountain. Irvine doubted that he'll succeed to teach the Headmaster how to be a gentleman like him.

"Yes, and I'll spare you if you agreed to help." She added with a sly smirk.

"Well, looks like I've got no other choice." He said in defeat.

The Sorceress grinned as the cowboy agreed to teach the Headmaster how to treat his girl and how to be a better lover. "And now, I guess we'll have fun." She said while pushing herself off the couch and giggled.

"Time to shop! And you'll come with me to carry all the bags!" Rinoa told Irvine as she pointed her finger at the cowboy.

Irvine shook his head a bit and gave up, letting the Sorceress to do whatever she wanted to do. The faster he finished his job, the faster he could go back to Balamb Garden and lazed all day like usual.

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_To be continued…_

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**A/N:** Urgh, you can see I don't really like Rinoa here lol and I hope this is the first and last chapter I've got to write about her in a ficcu x.x ::faints:: My fav characters from FF8 are Irvine and Quistis XD

Don't forget to review too X3


	3. Worry

**Disclamer:** All characters from Final Fantasy 8 aren't mine, they belongs to Square Soft/Enix and I borrowed them only for the purpose of entertainment XD!

**Warning:** Another Rinoa-bashing chapter, though not as much as the previous one lol

I haven't beta-read this ficcu yet and English is not my first language, so you might find a lot of grammar mistakes in my writings. But hopefully its still readable.

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**Chapter 3 - Worry**

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After a few train-rides, the cowboy finally back to his beloved Garden after being imprisoned by the Sorceress for a week days (maybe as a punishment and a torture). The first place that Irvine visited was his SeeD dorm room. The cowboy was in need for a good, quiet and peaceful rest after he was kept in the mad-mansion. He just couldn't kept his eyes properly as he seemed to be walking in a zig-zag pattern.

"Damn, I didn't know that I actually will miss this place." Irvine said to himself as he groggily punched the code numbers for his room and the automatic door opened with a soft hiss then closed again behind him. Carelessly the cowboy dropped his luggage somewhere near the door and flopped right away on the bed.

"Aww, crap. I'm so gonna dirty the sheet… I need to-*yawns*--bath… boots off…" Irvine snuggled onto his fluffy blankets and mumble out incoherent sentences. Though he managed to kick his boots clumsily, the cowboy was dead to the world as he fall onto a deep slumber seconds later.

His tiredness made his body lost the track of time. The cowboy had never slept that long before because when he was awake, his whole body felt really heavy and his head was aching. Irvine pushed himself to sit up on the messy bed and blinks sleepily at his dark room.

The cowboy scratched his messy tied auburn hair, confused on why the room was so dark. Didn't he arrived at Balamb Garden in the Morning? His mind was still clouded by sleep as he flopped back again onto the bed until a small flickering red light from his receiver that Irvine stopped himself from falling back to sleep.

He crawled closer to the receiver and checked the name who had left the message. The list made him gulped unintentionally. _Headmaster. Headmaster. Headmaster. Headmaster. Headmaster. Quisty. Headmaster. Selphy. Headmaster. Headmaster. Headmaster.--_ Feeling more than before awake, Irvine quickly checked for the time on his digital clock, his jaw dropped as he read the time, _1: 46AM_.

"Holy SHIT!" Irvine cursed under his breath as he jumped off the bed and ran toward the joined bathroom. He flicked the light on and gasped at his own reflection. _Shit, I need to tidy up. I'm so dead. _The cowboy quickly took off his dirty jacket and shirt off him and tossed them to the pile of dirty clothes. He opened his closet, pulled out a body-fitting black shirt and put it on quickly.

He moved to the bathroom again to clean up. He brushed his teeth while yanking his hair band which it snapped few strands of his messy hair. Irvine frowned at the pain yet he couldn't stop from getting ready. He brushed his hair a bit to make himself presentable and dashed out from his room.

The Garden had closed the gates and the lights were set on dim too as the students and instructors were all asleep at this hour. The cowboy felt a bit funny to run by himself in such a huge place and the only thing he could hear was his own footsteps echoed trough the empty halls.

Irvine continued to run until the board sign of 'Training Centre' could be seen. He stopped running beside the sign and panted heavily. The cowboy was never been made for one that uses their stamina to do a hard labor and that was one of the reasons why he chose to wield a gun instead of other kind of weapons. Slowly his breathing was back to normal though he still need to take a deep breath when he walked.

He combed his long hair with his hand as Irvine was getting closer to the entrance of the training centre. The cowboy looked around and found it interesting with the lackness of Gratz and T-Rex who usually ganged-up some trainees right at the entrance. Though the cowboy understand the sign behind the lackness of monsters in the training area.

With haste, Irvine walked faster toward the area near the secret place. A few days ago, he had promised his childhood friend who was the Headmaster now, to do some practice together in the training room. At first, Squall refused the silly thought of partnering with the sharpshooter because of the different type of weapons they had. But after some probing and sweet cooing, Squall finally gave in and agreed to practice with the cowboy once.

Irvine felt really bad for making the other man waited that long. Originally he had asked Squall to meet up around 11PM when everyone had gone to bed. But now it was almost 2AM and the cowboy doubted Squall was actually still there waiting for him.

As he reached his destination, he noticed a figure was leaning against the huge rock. Irvine was shocked as he realized who the figure was. Squall Lionheart crossed his hands over his own chest and was leaning against the rock for support as his sleepy eyes were almost falling shut.

There was a throb in Irvine chest as he watched Squall tried his best to keep their promise even though it was he the one who slept too long and missed their appointment. Squall was a busy man and the cowboy felt really bad for making him wake at this hour.

Quietly, Irvine stepped closer to where the sleepy man was. "Hey sweetie, it's passed your bed time." He said gently with a tap of his shoulder. That action though made Squall awoke with a violent jerk and made himself lose his balance.

"Watchout!" With his reflex, the cowboy grabbed onto the thin wrist to pull the Headmaster straight back up. Yet Irvine was forgetting how Squall was thinner and smaller in size than him. Instead of standing, they managed to topple against each other.

"Wah!" Irvine felt himself falling backward and was lying on his back on the dirty ground.

"Ack!" Squall was fully awake now though the sudden movement made his sight blurred a bit. He remembered that he was falling asleep while waiting with nothing much to do, then suddenly a tap on the shoulder woke him up abruptly causing Squall to lose his footing.

_What time is it…_ Before Squall could find his answer, he felt something was moving underneath him. The Headmaster was so surprised to find the sharpshooter was lying underneath him, even though not much was shown on his cold expression.

"Hyne, that's gonna leave a bruise on my back." Irvine said with a hiss. He looked up as he felt the man on top of him had stop moving. The cowboy smirked sheepishly. "You okay there, Headmaster? I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Squall rolled off from the sharpshooter and helped himself up, leaving the other man lie on the ground. The Headmaster dusted the dirt off from his jacket and pants. Irvine watched Squall giving him another cold treatment. Not exactly the brunette's fault anyway, he was the one who was really, really late (with capital 'L').

The cowboy pushed himself as well and winced a bit at the pain on his back. "Hehe, that was quite a fall, wasn't it?" The cowboy said trying to unease the atmosphere yet he got a glare from the other man as the reply. Irvine obediently closed his mouth and stayed quiet.

The silence between them was awkward as no one were trying to start a conversation. Squall for not caring enough to talk or being talked to and Irvine for feeling guilty to the other man. Minutes had passed and they still stood there unmoving.

Unused to the muteness, Irvine decided to break the silence. "Uh, I know it's quite complicated to explain. I know I'm to blame for being so late and to make you wait for more than 4 hours--"

The headmaster turned his head to Irvine and blinked. "4 hours?" The brunette said softly. Did he wait for the sharpshooter that long? He'd lost the track of time as he cleaned the training centre from monsters. _It didn't feel that long…_ Squall thought to himself.

Irvine tilted his head aside a bit and stared at the confused look that Squall got on his face. He chuckled and grinned. "Don't tell me you actually didn't check for the time."

Squall glared at the sharpshooter and crossed his hand over his own chest again. "What takes you so long to get here?" Though it sounded like a demand rather than a question.

The cowboy just smirked sheepishly. "Well, just say that staying in a Witch's Mad-Mansion almost killed me?" And added a quiet 'just kidding' when Squall hardened his glare at the nickname Irvine made up for Rinoa. Though Irvine really thought the title 'Witch' was more fitting for the princess than 'Sorceress'.

"Oh and I hate to dampen this sour mood already. You had a message from the lovely lady, Headmaster." Squall raised an eyebrow and nodded, indicating Irvine to say the message out loud.

"She said --well, minus the screaming and the squealing that can made your ears bleed-- 'Squall, you better starts learning how to be a good boyfriend. Find someone who can teach you to be a prince charming that I like or I won't forgive you'. The end." Irvine shrugged at the message, it sounded so selfish and childish. Now the cowboy really questioned how Squall managed to get through all this.

Suddenly Squall felt really tired as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He let his shoulder slumped a bit. All the paperworks he need to do, all the field works he need to revise, and all meetings he need to attend to. It was too much for one man, even though he was the man of legend who had defeated the evil sorceress of time. The headmaster was still human after all.

Squall sighed again and whispered under his breath, "Did I make the wrong choice…" His voice was so faint that the cowboy wasn't sure whether the Headmaster had said something. "Hmm? Did you say something, sweetie?"

Truthfully, the way Squall looked so dejected made Irvine worried. It was the side of the brunette that he rarely saw. The headmaster straightened himself and shook his head. "Its nothing." Squall said briefly and started to walk toward the exit of the training centre, leaving the cowboy behind.

Now, Irvine felt more worried than before.

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_To be continued…_

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**A/N: I refuse to write anything about Rinoa anymore lol ::write more about the two boys with more 'action':: Review please XD**


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